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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
earth_n	ancient_a	part_n	zone_n	36	3	12.2921	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49450	A new history of Ethiopia being a full and accurate description of the kingdom of Abessinia, vulgarly, though erroneously called the empire of Prester John : in four books ... : illustrated with copper plates / by ... Job Ludolphus ... ; made English, by J.P., Gent.; Historia Aethiopica. English	Ludolf, Hiob, 1624-1704.; J. P., Gent.	1682 (1682)	Wing L3468; ESTC R9778	257,513	339

pronounced for Ksoa Shoa for Goyam Gojam and so onward But he laughed outright when I question'd him concerning the Kingdoms of Barnagassus Tigremahon (k) In the vulgar Tables also you shall find Tigre and Tigray as if they were two distinct Kingdoms Which error B. Telles severely reprehends L. 1. Ch. 4. and Ambiancantiva For after a short hesitation he understood them to be compound words in which the Titles of the Vice-Roys were conjoyned with the Names of the Regions over which they were made Governors and besides that very much corrupted by the Portugal pronunciation and spelling For Barnagasso in the Amharic Language extends it self to Bahr-Nagash a compound word of Bahr which signifies the Sea and Nagash a Governour as much as to say a Commander or Admiral at Sea Tigremahon corruptly for Tigre-macuonen that is to say Judge or President of Tigre Ambian-cantiva for Dembea-cantiba that is Governour or President of Dembea The same inference happens to the most noble City and Court of Royal Residence Axuma which never appears in the Mapps by reason that the Portugals pronounce Axum Acassum for they cast away the A as an Article of declension and adding their own termination O made it Cassumo Upon which City we stood pausing a long time before we could tell what to make of it I pass by an innumerable company of other mistakes which rendred the Mapp altogether useless to me Nor is it to be doubted but the same thing often falls out in other Exotic Tables So that unless a Man can divine the Language of the Author or where he was born it is impossible but he must read the Names of the plaes most extravagantly For we find that because the Modern Europeans have no Letters of their own but onely have accommodated the Latin Letters to their own sounds it comes to pass that one and the same Letter is variously pronounced by various Nations which frequently appears in Consonants conjoyned As for Example Ch among the Germans Belgians and Polonians is a rough Aspiration like the Hebrew ח or the Greek Χ. Among the Italians Ch is pronounced like a k among the French like an Hebrew ש But among the English Spaniards and Portugueses who alone genuinely pronounce the word China there is a kind of hissing compos'd between the Letter Z. and sch which the Italians express by a C before e or i the Polonians by Ch the Hebrews more lively in their ש the Germans Sch the English by Sh the French Ch the Italians Sc before e and i and which the Portugueses would do by their Letter X but that they are unwilling to have it a superfluous Letter in their Alphabet For which reason it would be very requisite that the Publishers of Foraign Mapps should also Publish their Instructions and tell the World according to what Pronounciation the Names of Countries and Cities ought to be read Or else that in the compiling of some universal Geographical Work care might be taken to add such an Index as should be the standard of Pronunciation in every Country to prevent the common mistakes We must acknowledge that our Chorographick Table is not without its defects For though Gregorie were sufficiently skill'd in the Names and Situation of places yet he was ignorant of the Degrees of the Sphere and Elevation of the Pole Therefore in the first Mapps of Habessinia which I made I follow'd the Longitude and Latitude of the vulgar Tables but because I found them false in that too we thought it more prudence not to Publish any at all I must confess being in company with certain Persons of Learning and Quality upon a (l) There not makes mention of that which I gave to the Elector of Ments in his Remarks upon the History of Ethiopia I presented one also to Frederick 3d. King of Danemark another to Charles Lewis the Elector Palatine and some others I could not refuse the same satisfaction of their curiosity discourse that happen'd concerning Ethiopia after I had made my Apology I produc'd a Manuscript exemplar of both sorts But such they were that should they ever come to light by any misfortune I dare not be responsible for their Credit But at length having happen'd upon the Chorographick Table of Tellezius delineated by the Fathers of the Society with the help of the Astrolabe I made no scruple to retain the Degrees as by them set down and then to make them common together with a new Mapp for universal information I have added the Midland Regions tho without any adventure of justification in regard those Regions by reason of their vast distance being so seldom visited by Travellers afford little of certainty CHAP. V. Of the Nature of the Soil Temper of the Air Tempests Winds and such like Meteors The Air uncertain Wonderful effects of heat The Torrid Zone is nevertheless habitable The high places cold No Snow The temper and wholesomness of the Air. Horrid Thunders A dirty Winter describ'd by Gregory Diversity of Tempests in the same situation The four seasons of the year different from the Europeans The beginning of the Spring the 25th of Septemb. They have only three seasons of the year the days and nights almost always equal Their dawnings and evenings very short The most impetuous wind call'd a Snake The two sorts of Whirl-winds Prestor and Typhon most raging and pernicious IN so many and such various Regions the Constitution of the Air is as various In low and open places which the Abessines call Kolla the heat of the Sun is intolerable such as Seneca describes in these words The stones burn as if neal'd in the fire not onely in the middle of the day but also toward the evening the Silver unsoders the footsteps of men are impatient of the scorching sand The fastening of the standard melts No exterior covering of outward Ornament remains In which respect both coasts of the Red Sea have but a bad report as also the Islands especially Suaquena whose heat Gregorie many times us'd to call Infernal For said he it excoriates the Skin melts hard Indian wax in a Cabinet and sears your shoos like a red hot Iron But these Persons consider'd not the nature of those People that inhabit that Country much less have they weighed with themselves the strange Patience of those that covet rule and dominion who can endure the parching beams of the Sun and willingly too though unus'd to those immoderate violences of raging heat However the ancient Philosophers were in a very great error that believ'd the (m) Aristot Meteorotog L. 2. c. 11. and his followers Torrid Zone unhabitable or that the middle parts of the Earth where the Sun continually moves should be parch'd up with flames and tosted with the raging fire (n) The Spaniards have a Proverb he that is intent upon his own Interest minds not in conveniences Assuredly there are some Philosophers who deliver things uncertain and unprov'd for real and assured

the sake of Honour and Bootie They have a Language peculiar to themselves and different from all the rest of the Habessinian Dialects which argues their Original both forrain and common to all their Tribes they admit of Circumcision among themselves whether it be by any ancient Custom observed by many of the Neighbouring Ethnics or for that they find the Arabians and Abessines to do the same They have no Idols and but very little Divine Worship If you ask them concerning God or any Supreme Numen or who it is that Governs the Earth with so much Order and Constancy they answer Heaven which embraces in their view all the rest however they adore that Heaven with no Solemn Worship more barbarous than the Barbarians themselves nor yet are they altogether void of Humanity for they aspire to a large share of Ingenuity and in aptness to learn equalize the smartest of the Habessines From whence we may observe that there is no sort of Human-kind so fierce and savage which may not be civiliz'd by Education and Learning Many have submitted to the Instructions of Christianity and persisted constant in the Faith Tellezius testifies and Gregory farther witnessed That several Thousands of the Gallans were Converted to the Christian Religion and submitted to Baptism under King Basilides Now let me tell you this is that formidable Nation which has ruin'd the Power and Dominion of the Abessines insomuch that they have torn from the Abessine King above the half of those Territories which his Ancestors enjoy'd for after their Irruption out of Bali they made themselves Masters of the Provinces of Gedmam Angota Dawara Wed Fatagar Ifat Guragea Ganza Conta Damota Waleka Bizama part of Shewa and many intermix'd Kingdoms Nor had they stopp'd there had they not being rent into Divisions among themselves turn'd their Arms one against another and given the Habessines a little breathing time for Concord among Equals rarely long attends Prosperity At this time they are divided into certain Tribes Seventy or more and as it were into Two Nations of which the more Westerly are by the Habessines call'd Bertuma Galla those that lye to the East Boren Galla those Easterly and Southerly in a manner encircle Habassia and harrase it with frequent Incursions They have also separated Cambata and Enarea from the rest of the Body as having subdu'd the Kingdoms that lye between which makes it very difficult for the Abessine Prince to convoy home the Tribute of those Kingdoms Thus there is a necessity for the Habessines to be always in War with these People nor is there any hopes of regaining their ancient and pristine Glory unless that Nation be first reduc'd into order The King has prudently made use of their Intestine Discords for he has plac'd the Revolters in Dembea and Gojam and successfully makes use of their Arms against their Country-men for as they are the most excellent Antidotes which are compos'd of the most Venomous Animals themselves so the Barbarians themselves are the most prevalent Force against the Barbarians Now let us take a view of the Kingdom of Zandero till lately undiscovered although contiguous to Habessinia as being not above four or five days from it The Inhabitants are but little more civil than the Gallans only that they acknowledge a King and have an awful respect for something whether it be God or Devil The King being dead the next of Kin retire into the Wood and there modestly wait the Election of the Nobility who in quest of their King newly Elected among themselves enter the Wood guided by a certain Bird of the Eagle-kind which by the Noise it makes discovers the Conceal'd Person presently they find him surrounded with a Guard of Lyons Dragons and Panthers d assembled together by a sort of Incantation to the Ancients unknown At first he makes a resistance against the Electors and wounds those that he can that he may seem to be Constrained to take the Government upon him soon after as they are going along another Gang to whom it belongs of ancient Custom endeavour to Rescue their King from the other Party claiming to themselves the Honour of being the Persons that set the Crown upon the King's Head and purchasing the hopes of Royal Favour by means of a seeming Sport which oft-times proves very Bloody Thus instead of Inauguration the African Gentiles think it Lawful to attone the Devil with human Blood The King proud in the height of Poverty not contented with the few steps to his Throne gets upon the Beam of his House from whence he looks down as from a Gallery and gives Answers to Embassadors Antony Fernandez Travelling with the Habessinian Ambassador into that Kingdom having viewed this same Lybian Soveraign compares him for colour and gesture to a Rampant Monkey Nor does the word Zendero which is the Name of the Kingdom intimate much less in regard that Zendero signifies an Ape Tellezius adds That it is the Custom of those Barbarians if their King be wounded to kill him which is conformable to the Nature of Monkeys who having receiv'd a wound tear and scratch it so long till their Entrails drop out or that they lose all their Blood The next Kingdom is Alaba conterminous Easterly to Cambat the Governour of which in the Sixteenth Year of this Century was call'd Alico To the East Habessinia is bounded by vast Deserts and open Solitary level Wildernesses and therefore altogether unknown Southward it joyns to the Kingdom of Sennar or Fund Govern'd by its peculiar King formerly a Tributary to the Abessines but now Absolute He Possest a part of the ancient Nubia near to which adjoyn'd the Kingdom of Balou whose Inhabitants are by the Portugueses call'd Balous their King was formerly Lord of Suaqena and in friendship with the Abessines now he only receives the half of the Maritine Tribute from the Turks From what we have said it may be easily gathered with how many Adversaries and Enemies Ethiopia is surrounded so that the Abersines may not improperly compare their Country to the Flower of Saffron Denguelat set about with Thorns For being perpetually struggling with their Foes they rather apply themselves to the Arts of War then Peace which seldom thrive amidst the Noise of War and public Contention An Addition It remains to speak of the Portugals in Habessinia who are neither Africans nor Forreiners for that some time since they have submitted themselves to the Habessine Jurisdiction For of the Four hundred which Christopher Gamez brought to the succour of the Abissines in the Adelan War about One hundred and seventy superviving in the space of one Age multiply'd so fast that when the Fathers of the Society came thither they were able to Muster Fourteen hundred Fighting men a small handful but very considerable to the Party to which they adhere as retaining their ancient Courage and dexterity in handling their Arms for the use of Fire-arms superiour to the Habessines or any of the Barbarians